If you fell on a casino floor, in a hotel lobby, at a store, or in a parking garage anywhere in the Las Vegas area, the most important decisions in your case are the ones made in the first week, not the ones made years later in a courtroom. A slip-and-fall claim is usually won or lost on evidence that is already disappearing: surveillance footage that overwrites on a set schedule, cleaning logs that get overwritten or discarded, and witnesses who scatter. This page explains how to tell whether you have a real case, what Nevada law actually requires, and what to do right now to keep the evidence from vanishing.
Start Here: Find Your Situation
If you fell within the last few days and you are leaving Las Vegas soon → the footage clock is your first problem, not the lawsuit. Skip to What to Do in the First Week. The single most valuable thing you can do today is get a written request to preserve the video into the hands of the property before it overwrites.
If you fell recently and you are local → you have a little more breathing room, but the same clock is running. Read What to Do in the First Week, then Do You Actually Have a Case? to see how Nevada law sizes up your situation.
If you are weeks or months out and trying to decide whether to pursue it → start with Do You Actually Have a Case? and Who Is Actually Responsible?, which cover the two questions that decide most claims: was the property careless, and how much fault might land on you.
If an adjuster, a hotel “guest services” representative, or a claims handler has already contacted you → read What the Other Side Is Already Doing before you sign anything or give a recorded statement.
What You Need to Know
- The deadline is firm. In Nevada, you generally have two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit (NRS 11.190(4)(e)). Miss it and the claim is almost always gone, no matter how strong it was.
- The evidence has a shorter clock than the deadline. Casino gaming-floor surveillance must be kept for only about seven days under Nevada gaming rules (rising to fifteen days in 2027), and many non-gaming cameras and cleaning logs cycle even faster. A written preservation request, sent fast and to the right parties, is what keeps the proof alive.
- Open and obvious is no longer an automatic defense. Since Foster v. Costco (2012), the fact that a hazard was visible does not by itself end your claim. It became a question of fault for the jury, not a free pass for the property.
- Your own share of fault is the real battleground. Under NRS 41.141, you can still recover as long as your negligence “was not greater than” the combined negligence of those you sue. Cross that line and you recover nothing. This is why the other side works so hard to pin fault on you.
- More than one company is usually responsible. Control over the hazard, not just who owns the building, decides who pays. A property owner, a management company, a cleaning contractor, and a maintenance vendor can all be on the hook at once.
- You pay nothing to find out where you stand. Most Nevada slip-and-fall lawyers, including this firm, work on contingency and offer a free consultation.
Why Hire Jack Bernstein Injury Lawyers?
Jack G. Bernstein, Esq. has been protecting the rights of injured victims and their families for over 40 Years.
What Our Clients Say
If any one is looking for a lawyer look no more and go to Jack Bernstein injury lawyers. They handled everything for me in little to a few months. They were very helpful and answered any questions that i had. The staff are very friendly. Definitely recommend them and would come back to them in a heartbeat if needed. Thank you Jack Bernstein Injury Lawyers and Team!
Do You Actually Have a Case?
A slip and fall is not automatically a lawsuit. Falling on someone else’s property only becomes a claim when the property failed to use reasonable care to keep the area safe, and that failure is what hurt you. Here is the framework Nevada courts actually use, so you can size up your own situation before you call anyone.
Nevada does not have a single “premises liability statute” that spells out the property owner’s duty. People sometimes point to NRS 41.130, but that is Nevada’s general negligence statute, not a premises-duty rule. The actual duty comes from Nevada Supreme Court decisions. In Foster v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 128 Nev. 773, 291 P.3d 150 (2012), the court confirmed that a property owner owes everyone legitimately on the property a single duty of reasonable care under the circumstances: to inspect for hazards, fix dangerous conditions, warn about known dangers, and actively look for hidden ones. Slip-and-fall is one corner of Nevada premises liability law; the same reasonable-care duty runs through every kind of property hazard.
Whether the property met that duty usually turns on what it knew and when:
| Question the case turns on | What it means for you | What proves it |
|---|---|---|
| Did a dangerous condition exist? | A wet floor, a spill, loose carpet, a broken stair, poor lighting, an unmarked level change. | Photos, the incident report, the physical condition itself. |
| Did the property know, or should it have? | If a spill was there long enough that a careful staff would have found it, the property is responsible even if no one saw it happen. | Surveillance timeline, inspection logs, cleaning schedules, employee statements. |
| Did the property fail to act reasonably? | No cleanup, no warning cone, no inspection in a reasonable window, no repair. | The gap between when the hazard appeared and when (if ever) it was addressed. |
| Did that failure cause your injury? | The hazard, not something unrelated, is what hurt you. | Medical records tied to the fall, timeline consistency. |
Bottom line: The strong cases are the ones where you can show the hazard existed long enough that a reasonably careful property would have caught it, and you can prove it before the footage and logs that establish that timeline disappear. The hard cases are the ones where the proof is already gone.
The “Open and Obvious” Trap
For years, properties escaped liability by arguing the hazard was “open and obvious,” meaning you should have seen it, so they owed you nothing. That defense has been weaker in Nevada since Foster v. Costco. Today, the fact that a hazard was visible does not automatically end your case. Instead, it becomes one factor a jury weighs in deciding whether the property acted reasonably and how much fault, if any, belongs to you.
This matters because the defense still uses the argument, just differently. Instead of a complete shield, “open and obvious” is now deployed to push fault onto you and to pressure an early, cheap settlement before you understand that the doctrine no longer works the way it once did. Knowing it is a fault argument, not a case-ender, changes how you respond to it. (Whether the property posted adequate warnings is part of this fight, which is why the role of warning signs in premises-liability cases often matters.)
Who Is Actually Responsible? The Six-Layer Question
Most people assume one defendant: the business where they fell. In reality, the question Nevada law asks is who controlled the hazard, and control is often spread across several companies that have nothing to do with each other on paper. A large Las Vegas property can involve:
- The property owner. The entity that holds title to the building or land.
- The management company. Often a separate business that runs day-to-day operations.
- The tenant or operator. The store, restaurant, or casino actually using the space.
- A cleaning or janitorial contractor. Frequently an outside vendor responsible for floor maintenance and spill response.
- A maintenance or facilities contractor. Responsible for stairs, lighting, flooring, and repairs.
- A security vendor. Which may control the surveillance system that holds the footage of your fall.
Identifying all of them matters for two reasons. First, the company that controlled the specific hazard may not be the one whose name is on the door, and missing it can mean suing the wrong party. Second, each of these companies may carry its own insurance, which can be the difference between a recovery that covers your medical bills and one that does not.
What this means for you: When a representative tells you “we don’t own the property” or “the cleaning company handles that,” they are not closing the door on your claim. They are describing exactly why more than one party may owe you, and why pinning down who controlled the hazard, early, is part of building the case.
Where You Fell Shapes Your Slip-and-Fall Case
The duty is the same everywhere (reasonable care), but the practical case changes with the venue: which hazards are common, who controlled the floor, what evidence exists, and how fast it disappears. A gas-station fall turns on pump-island grease and outdoor camera coverage; a grocery-store fall on spills, produce misting, and floor-maintenance logs; a casino fall on the seven-day gaming-floor footage rule and a stack of separate vendors; a warehouse or big-box fall on pallets, spilled product, and loading-area hazards. Because the venue changes the proof, we keep location-specific pages for the most common Las Vegas settings.
By type of property: gas stations, grocery stores, retail stores, pharmacies, fast-food restaurants, malls and shopping centers, and casinos and hotels.
Nearby communities: Henderson, Summerlin, Boulder City, and Pahrump.
If your specific location is not listed, the same reasonable-care duty and evidence rules still apply, and a consultation can map them to your fall.
What to Do in the First Week
Slip-and-fall cases are built or lost on evidence, and the evidence is on a timer. These are the steps that protect a claim in the days right after a fall. They apply whether you end up hiring this firm, another firm, or handling something yourself.
Report the fall and get the incident number. Ask the property to document the fall in writing and give you a copy or a report number. A documented report is far harder for the property to later say never happened.
Photograph everything before it changes. The hazard, the surrounding area, the lighting, the lack of warning signs, your injuries, and your footwear. A spill gets mopped within minutes; a photo is permanent.
Get the date and time exact. Surveillance footage is found by timestamp. The more precisely you can identify when and where you fell, the easier the right video is to locate.
Send a written request to preserve the video, fast, and to the right parties. This is the single highest-value step, and it is also the one most people get wrong. The property is supposed to preserve footage once a claim is foreseeable, but cameras keep overwriting until someone tells them to stop. Casino gaming-floor surveillance has to be kept only about seven days under Nevada gaming regulations (rising to fifteen days in 2027), and non-gaming cameras and cleaning logs often cycle faster.
Identify every custodian, not just the front desk. This is the structural mistake that quietly kills cases: sending one notice to the business and assuming the evidence is safe. Practitioners who handle these cases routinely find the footage controlled by a separate security vendor, the cleaning logs held by an outside janitorial contractor, and the property managed by yet another company. A preservation request that reaches only the primary entity can leave the most important evidence sitting on a system no one told to stop deleting. The fix is to send the request, in writing and by a method that proves delivery, to every party that might hold a piece of the proof (the owner, the manager, the operator, the cleaning contractor, and the security vendor), and to ask specifically for the footage from the fall and the hours before it, which is what shows how long the hazard sat there.
Keep your medical care consistent. Gaps in treatment are the first thing the other side uses to argue you were not really hurt. See a doctor promptly and follow through.
Bottom line: The lawsuit can wait; the evidence cannot. If the footage and logs survive the first week, you have something to build on. If they overwrite, even a strong-sounding case can collapse for lack of proof.
What the Other Side Is Already Doing
If you have a claim, the property’s insurer and its claims handlers are working on it before you have hired anyone. Recognizing their playbook is part of protecting your case.
- The friendly check-in call. Within a day or two, an adjuster may call “to see how you’re feeling” and ask for a recorded statement. The questions are built to shrink the claim: How often do you shop here? What were you doing right before you fell? Are you feeling better today? You are not required to give a recorded statement, and “I’m feeling better” can become “the plaintiff admitted minimal injury.”
- The fast settlement offer. A quick offer can arrive before anyone knows how badly you are hurt, often with broad release language. Signing it can close out future medical costs even if your injury turns out to be far worse than it first seemed.
- The fault-shifting move. Because Nevada bars recovery once your share of fault crosses the line (see below), the other side has a direct financial incentive to make the fall sound like your mistake: you were distracted, you were wearing the wrong shoes, the hazard was “open and obvious.”
- The “guest services” approach. On the Strip especially, an injury may be handled as a customer-service matter (room upgrades, dining credits, a “satisfaction” form) rather than a legal one. Some of those forms contain release language. A nice gesture and a legal release can be the same piece of paper.
A common point of confusion: if you fell at a bar or casino and alcohol was involved, Nevada generally does not allow a claim against the venue for over-serving an adult who is 21 or older. Under NRS 41.1305, the business “is not liable in a civil action for any damages caused by the person to whom the alcoholic beverage was served.” But that immunity is narrow. It does not touch the property’s separate duty to keep its floors and walkways reasonably safe. A slip on a wet casino floor is a premises-condition claim, which the alcohol-service immunity does not bar.
How Nevada’s Fault Rule Decides What You Recover
Nevada uses modified comparative negligence. In plain terms, you can be partly at fault and still recover, but only up to a point. Under NRS 41.141, your negligence cannot be “greater than the negligence or gross negligence of the parties” you are suing. Practitioners describe this as the 51% bar: if your share of fault is 51% or more, you recover nothing.
Two details change how this plays out in real cases:
- Your fault is measured against everyone you sue, combined. The statute instructs the jury to compare your fault to “the combined negligence of multiple defendants.” This is one more reason identifying every responsible party matters: spreading the defense fault across several companies makes it harder for any one of them to argue that you were the most at fault.
- Whatever fault sticks to you reduces your recovery. If you are found 20% responsible, your recovery is reduced by 20%. So even when the bar is not in play, the fight over your percentage of fault is a fight over real money.
This is the mechanism behind nearly every adjuster tactic. The recorded statement, the “open and obvious” argument, the questions about your footwear: they are all aimed at moving your fault percentage up, either past the 51% line where you recover nothing, or just high enough to cut the payout.
What to Look For and Ask Before You Hire Anyone
Once you understand that these cases are won on early evidence work, you can judge a Las Vegas slip-and-fall lawyer by whether they treat the first week as urgent. Reasonable questions to ask any firm you talk to:
- How quickly will you send preservation letters, and to whom? A firm that understands these cases will move on the footage immediately and will ask about every possible custodian (owner, manager, operator, cleaning contractor, security vendor), not just the business.
- How will you identify who controlled the hazard? You want a firm that treats the “who is responsible” question as a real investigation, not an assumption that the business on the sign is the only defendant.
- How do you handle the comparative-fault argument? The answer should show they expect the “it was your fault” defense and have a plan for it.
- What does it cost me? A contingency arrangement means you pay legal fees only if there is a recovery. Confirm there is no upfront cost and that the consultation is free.
You do not need to have figured all of this out before you call. A short consultation can tell you where you stand and, just as important, can get the preservation requests out the door before more evidence disappears.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Do I Have to File a Slip and Fall Claim in Nevada?
Generally two years from the date of the injury, under NRS 11.190(4)(e) (more in our explainer on how long after a slip-and-fall you can sue in Nevada). There are limited exceptions, and claims against a government entity can carry shorter notice requirements, so the safest approach is to treat the deadline as firm and confirm your specific date with a lawyer early. The practical deadline that matters most, though, is much sooner: the days it takes for surveillance footage to overwrite.
What If I Was Partly at Fault for My Own Fall?
You can still recover, as long as your share of fault is not greater than the combined fault of the parties you sue (NRS 41.141). If you are found 51% or more at fault, you recover nothing; below that, your recovery is reduced by your percentage. This is exactly why the other side works to inflate your fault, and why it is rarely a good idea to concede fault in a recorded statement.
Can I Sue a Casino or Hotel If I Fell on the Strip?
Yes. A casino or hotel owes the same duty of reasonable care as any other Nevada property. Falls at large Strip properties often involve several responsible companies and tight evidence windows (gaming-floor footage is kept only about seven days under state gaming rules), so acting quickly matters even more. Casino- and hotel-specific slip-and-fall claims carry their own complications, as do casino injuries beyond falls, and you can also read more on suing a Las Vegas hotel for a slip-and-fall. A consultation can sort out who controlled the hazard in your case.
The Property Offered Me a Room Upgrade and a Form to Sign. Should I?
Be careful. Customer-service gestures sometimes come with release language that can end your legal claim. Before signing anything a property gives you after a fall, have it reviewed. Once you sign a release, undoing it is difficult.
Do I Have to Pay a Lawyer Up Front?
Most Nevada slip-and-fall lawyers, including Jack Bernstein Injury Lawyers, work on a contingency basis: you pay no upfront fees, and legal fees come out of a recovery only if there is one. The initial consultation is free.
If You Were Injured in Las Vegas
The clock on a Las Vegas slip-and-fall case starts the moment you hit the floor, and the most important evidence is often gone within days. With over 40 years as a personal injury attorney and more than $500 million recovered in verdicts and settlements, Jack Bernstein understands how these cases are built: moving fast to preserve the surveillance footage and cleaning records before they overwrite, identifying every company that controlled the hazard, and pushing back on the comparative-fault arguments insurers use to cut or kill a claim. If you fell at a casino, hotel, store, parking garage, or any commercial property in the Las Vegas area, Jack Bernstein Injury Lawyers offers a free consultation to evaluate where your case stands and what evidence still needs to be protected. The same applies valley-wide, including Henderson, and to visitors injured while in town from out of state. Because Nevada’s two-year filing deadline and the much shorter footage-retention window are both running, the sooner that evaluation happens, the more of your case can be saved. Call (702) 633-3333.
